Thursday's Blog

 Chapel in the Church

We had chapel in church today and it was led by Mrs. Helmkamp. Abikritti carried our classroom cross to chapel and carried up our offering. Mrs. Helmkamp asked for us to look for crosses all around the church. We saw crosses everywhere because they remind us that Jesus died on the cross for us! Then she showed us different kinds of cross shaped chrismons. One was beaded, one had lots of crosses, and one had a cross with a large ball at the bottom. When Mrs. Helmkamp asked what that one represented, Levi, from our class responded.."Th eball is like the world and it means Jesus loves the whole world." I had to give Levi a big fist bump for that awesome response! Wow!!! 

Looking at the manger in the welcome center outside of church. Mrs. Koenen had told us the other day that a manger is something animals eat their food out of. It was fun to see a real one! The class was also looking for Baby Jesus but I told them they need to wait until Christmas!

Jingle Pops Makes a Visit!

My dad, aka, Jingle Pops, came to visit the class. Being a retired art teacher he talked to the class about patterns and showed them how we see patterns all around us. We looked around the room for patterns and then he showed us patterns on wrapping paper. A pattern repeats.

Advent Devotion and Counting the Days Until Jesus's Birthday

Zoey helped us count the days until Christmas and Jesus's birthday (and Mrs. Talley's birthday which also happens to be on Christmas Day!). We counted to 14 today and Zoey changed the countdown to Jesus's birthday plaque from 15 to 14! Great job Zoey! 

Aavya added the sticker after our "silent night" devotional. She added a shepherd to the scene. We talked about how Jesus is like a shepherd taking care of us, His little lambs!

Centers

Making Ornaments

Many friends chose to make ornaments. We had colorful gingerbread people and beautiful angels!

Christmas House

Reading

Nativity

I brought in the toy nativity my daughter used to play with.Many of the children enjoyed playing with it today. There is nothing sweeter than seeing young children gaze at the miracle that is Baby Jesus!

Making Wrapping Paper

A few friends used stamps and stamp pads and made their own wrapping paper with Jingle Pops.

Christmas Train and Candy Construction

This has been a very popular place to play during centers this week!

Mario Brothers

I love talking about video games with the students who are interested in them. I fell in love with video games when I was a kid with Atari and Pitfall and Pac Man, although I can be a pretty competitive Mario Kart player! I just had to take a picture of these two guys when they both showed up to school wearing Super Mario gear! 

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Jingle Pops read us the story, Twas the Night Before Christmas and then he passed out candy canes.

Jingle Pops